Forbush season ends at East Rutherford

Forbush's Taylor Wooten follows her fly ball to left during the third inning of Saturday's game with East Rutherford. The fly ball scored Allison Mitchell and pushed Wooten's RBI total to seven over two games.

Photo

Forbush's Taylor Wooten follows her fly ball to left during the third inning of Saturday's game with East Rutherford. The fly ball scored Allison Mitchell and pushed Wooten's RBI total to seven over two games.

Forbush's Sydney Miller cranks out a first-inning pitch during Saturday's game with East Rutherford. Miller allowed only two earned runs over the final two games of the regional series.

Photo

Forbush's Sydney Miller cranks out a first-inning pitch during Saturday's game with East Rutherford. Miller allowed only two earned runs over the final two games of the regional series.

“After we scored those first two runs, I thought we were going to be on a roll. They answered back.”

The Cavaliers will meet Jordan-Matthews (of Siler City) in Raleigh Friday and Saturday to decide the 2A championship.

East Rutherford won Game 1 in Ellenboro Wednesday, 9-6. Forbush won Game 2 in East Bend Thursday, 10-1, to set up a third game.

The Cavaliers added another run in the second, but the Falcons tied it at 3 in the third as Mitchell singled; moved to second on a bunt single by Choplin; and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Wooten. It was Wooten’s seventh RBI in two games.

East Rutherford went ahead 5-3 in the fourth, but the Falcons again responded by scoring one of their own. Mitchell, with her seventh hit in her last seven plate appearances, doubled to start the inning. Mitchell moved to third on a groundout by Choplin and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Miller.

The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the sixth.

“They played as a team,” East Rutherford Coach Laura Hopper Ray said. “They played with their hearts today. We just had fun.”

Jordan-Mathews advanced with a two-game sweep of Northeastern, winning 4-2 and 9-2.

The scene, which has been testy between the two teams and their fans, turned ugly after Game 3. Many of the East Rutherford students in attendance rushed the field as their team began to celebrate their regional championship.

After the Falcons secured their equipment and walked out to left field to talk among themselves and with their coaches, the students began to chant “We are the Cavs; don’t you forget it.”

Davis said, almost two hours later, that all she will remember about East Rutherford is negative. “Their fans were pretty rude,” Davis said. “That’s what’s going to stick in my mind.”

Davis said she also expected the Falcons to receive their regional-runner-up award following the game. “We didn’t even get a ceremony,” Davis said.

Of Forbush, Davis said she will remember “the way they played. They kept fighting. They don’t give up. They have class.

“They’re just a good group of kids,” Davis said. “Every one of them makes good grades. Thus is a well-rounded group of girls.”

Forbush played Saturday’s game with no seniors. “Everyone of these girls is coming back next year,” Davis said. “We didn’t have a senior in the field.”